not picking on you.... just picked this as the last one in the group of mins... if everybody looks at the number of mins you are listing then you are saying all our starters will be playing under 30 mins a game. i just don't see us going to the bench that much

just using your numbers.... 102 mins for the bench per game that leaves 28 mins per starter... as much as i want the starters mins cut, its not going to go that far.

here's my guesses (as they will be playing by the last 1/4 of the season)

not picking on you.... just picked this as the last one in the group of mins... if everybody looks at the number of mins you are listing then you are saying all our starters will be playing under 30 mins a game. i just don't see us going to the bench that much

just using your numbers.... 102 mins for the bench per game that leaves 28 mins per starter... as much as i want the starters mins cut, its not going to go that far.

here's my guesses (as they will be playing by the last 1/4 of the season)

It does not necessarily have to add up since not everyone is going to play in all the games.

Overall if Sheed plays 30 and Dyess 18 that leaves 48 mins left over. I had Amir and Maxiel totalling 42 with 6 mins left over. Sheed has been playing less than the rest of the startes and I don't see Dyess shooting up to much more than he has been playing even if he is starting. Flip said something about Dyess starting and being avail for 4th quarter mins during close games. If Dyess starts he will not be playing starter mins. Especially with his slow starts.

Figure also that Maxiel and Amir will probably see spot some time at SF and also figure in injuries as Sheed and Dyess rarely make it though a whole season without an incident.

In the backcourt its going to be challenge for Flip to limit them to not more than 30 MPG like Dumars said he wanted to see last summer. Thats going to leave 36 mins for Stucky and the rest of the guards. Hayes may also see some time at SG. And we also have 18 MPG to fill at SF.

Whenever we talk about minutes, we think of a schedule that applies to each and every game.

A coach could also keep players fresh and motivated by varying the minutes from game to game in a systematic way (so that players can prepare).

For instance, it would be cool to have JMax start once in a while. Same with Amir. Give starters rest on occasion by moving them to the bench unit. It would build comraderie, versatility, it would give the starters rest, and the bench players confidence.

Many indicate that AJ would get more minutes than JMax. This is going to be interesting to watch. I would assume that at the beginning at least, JMax would get more, especially since he already played and contributed. Also, Murray being in such a tip-top shape may prompt Sr. to give him more burn to either show that he can contribute or to showcase him for a possible trade. And a lot depends on how the kids are going to perform right out of the gate. That would probably determine the minutes, along with the opponent, for the foreseable future.

Having said that I think I will defer my predictions until the all star game break or later (seems like cheating to me)

Well it may be, but to me the minutes question for the bench players and starters as a result, notwithstanding any major injury or injuries which hopefully we won't have, depends on how well the 2nd unit players play defense.

JMax improved his defensive skill appreciably last year over his rookie year and as a result got more minutes especially in the last 20 - 30 games of the year.

Hayes defense is a bit of an unknown as different people who saw him play with the Wiz have different opinions about his defensive skills.

The other 3, Hot Rod, AJ and AA, while they have been touted by some, including myself, as pretty good defenders, I think that we will have to wait and see what happens starting in November.

If these guys get into a lot of quick foul trouble game in and game out their minutes won't be there.

If they play matador defense when the ball goes up for real, then they won't get the minutes.

I am very hopeful that eventually they will all be above average defenders. But the fact of it is is that the three are all rookies, AJ is when it comes to NBA experience, and with rookies you don't know.

It is my opinion that their defensive skill on the court starting in November will determine to a large extent their minutes, more so than their offense, except for maybe AA, whose defense will be more than adequate, but their is a question as to his ability to score, though he still may get minutes based on his defense and the game situation.

You could have asked people to limit their comments until more people have put out their numbers. I wonder if you can reorder the posts in a thread such that the ones with the speculation all go to the top-with the comments staying at bottom of the thread. (Or design a thread that has this feature built in?)

I really don't see a lot of production from the bench this year. JMax was a 5 and 3 player last year, don't see him improving that much.

Amir, has a lot of hype, hopefully it's true, but we just don't know. If Amir is the real deal, JMax gets a lot of DNPs. Flip likes to play 3 big men, not 4.

Stuckey is all up to Flip. Just read from McCoskey how good Jr. looked in practice. Wouldn't be suprised if Sr. does a Darko on Stuckey. Plays him until he makes a mistake, and then DNPs him for his pet Jr.

I believe we will have a ten man rotation, with Afflalo and Stuckey playing backcourt backup minutes, Hayes playing the backup small forward minutes, with Amir and JMAX getting all the backup minutes behind Dyess and Sheed. Although Mohammed is slated to get minutes facing bigger centers, I believe this will actually never happen, as JMAX and Amir will simply be too good to have their minutes taken away. And I believe that Dumars will fire Flip Saunders if he does try to play his starters more than 32 mintues per game. While he should just play them 30 minutes each, he will push the limit and play them 32 since he is clueless about saving legs for the playoffs. Ok, so that leaves 16 minutes for backup per position, or 80 minutes plus 6 more since Dyess will still just get 24 minutes. Thats 32 for the guards, and 54 for the front court. Although not asked for, I will guess Afflalo will play 14 mintues per game. Leaving:

You could have asked people to limit their comments until more people have put out their numbers. I wonder if you can reorder the posts in a thread such that the ones with the speculation all go to the top-with the comments staying at bottom of the thread. (Or design a thread that has this feature built in?)

Click to expand...

Because the posts are time stamped, it is not possible to re-order them.